Families have less to spend than at any time over the past ten years, the Daily Mail reports.
An official analysis found that an average household paid £471 a week for everything from the cost of housing to buying lottery tickets in 2008, the lowest spending per home since 1999.
The statistics, released by the Office for National Statistics, reveal the amount that a typical family can afford has been falling since 2004.
Independent economists put the trend …

The guard towers of Auschwitz are splintering, the barracks are waterlogged: the concentration camp where over one million Jews were murdered is decaying so fast that conservationists have called on Britain to help to save it, The Times reports.
The theft last month of its distinctive, sinister sign, “Arbeit macht frei” has underlined the vulnerability of the nazi death camp, stretching over 50 acres of southern Poland. “Nobody could have imagined such a horrific act of …

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said that the weather had brought the economy to a “standstill” – with estimates it was costing at least £600 million a day, the Independent reports.
Many parts of the UK have gone three weeks without rubbish collections due to the icy conditions. Major roads were closed, many airport runways shut and train services disrupted in the wake of the latest snowfall.
The FSB said there should now be talks between …

Motorists are facing the threat of higher parking fines as councils put pressure on the Government to increase penalties, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The British Parking Association that represent both local authorities and their private enforcement companies, are lobbying Sadiq Khan, a transport minister, for a “review” of charges outside London.
Currently fines they are set at £40 for minor offences such as spending too long at a meter and £70 for more serious transgressions including parking …

An impoverished Labour Party will be unable to return fire against the Conservatives’ pre-election advertising blitz for months, amid fears that they could emerge from the campaign bankrupt, The Times reports.
David Blunkett, the former Home Secretary and chairman of Labour’s election development board, said the party was going into an election at a greater financial disadvantage than any time since 1983, when they suffered a landslide defeat.
Labour have been forced to scrap a planned manifesto …

Iceland’s Parliament approved plan today to repay £3.4 billion lost by savers in Britain and the Netherlands when the country’s banking system collapsed – £2.3 billion to Britain and £1.3 billion to Netherlands, the Daily Mail reports.
The money will reimburse the British and Dutch governments which stepped in to compensate depositors with Icesave after its parent bank Landsbanki failed last year.
The bank’s collapse left more than 320,000 savers out of pocket.
Iceland must settle the claims …

The Digital Economy Bill, which requires internet service providers (ISPs) to disconnect users who are accused of illegal filesharing, will cost consumers up to £500 million, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The Bill, which is expected to become law next year, will add £25 a year to the cost of broadband, according to ISPs. The Government’s impact assessment document, which examines the likely effects of the Bill, estimates that around 40,000 households will give up their broadband …

Thousands of foreign criminals are being offered credit cards pre-loaded with more than £450 of taxpayers’ cash if they agree to return home,the Daily Mail reports.
Rapists, muggers and burglars are being offered the astonishing perk as part of a package worth up to £5,000 designed to bribe them to leave the UK. The credit cards are loaded with money which the convicts can spend as soon as they leave British soil.
The remainder of the windfall …

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said that the Labour party should never be trusted with people’s money again and that the pre-Budget report today was a catastrophe, the BBC reports.
Every family in the UK would be paying the price for Labour’s mistakes, he said, adding that anyone earning more than £20,000 would pay more tax as a result. Labour’s pledges on spending and deficit cutting were not credible, he said.
In contrast, he said that the Tories …

Taxpayers will not see a single penny from the MPs’ expenses payback, because the cost of a review by independent auditor Sir Thomas Legg is expected to hit £1.2million, the Daily Mail reports.
Commons officials say this is equal to the amount that Sir Thomas believes he can claw back from MPs who have made excessive claims on their expenses. Senior sources have admitted that the process is expected to be “cost neutral” when it is …

Germany is still paying off £50 million in reparations after the end of World War One over 90 years ago, the Daily Mail reports.
The German Finance Agency, the country’s authority on debt management, said tens of millions of euros are still being transferred to private individuals holding debenture bonds as agreed under the treaty of Versailles signed on 28th June, 1919. Those bonds were issued at the time to investors hoping to make money out …

Tens of thousands of civil servants may be relocated out of London in a drastic bid to cut public spending, the Daily Mail reports.
A leaked report has revealed the Government will review the possibility of moving all civil servants not directly required for ministerial support out of the capital to less expensive regional offices.
There are currently 132,000 civil servants and 90,000 employees of “arm’s-length bodies” based in London and the south-east.
Other radical moves contained in …

European Union’s new foreign affairs chief, Baroness Ashton of Upholland was forced to deny yesterday taking funds from the Soviet Union during her days as treasurer for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), The Times reports.
Lady Ashton was challenged to deny that she had contact with Russian sources while she was in charge of CND’s accounts at the height of the Cold War.
Nigel Farage, the UK Independence Party leader, raised the matter on the floor …

Supreme Court ruled in favour of the High Street banks in a row over overdraft fees, delivering a blow for thousands who had hoped to recoup charges, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Seven major banks and a building society had challenged High Court and Court of Appeal decisions that the charges come under “unfair contract” rules and are therefore subject to regulation by the Office of Fair Trading.
Today’s result was awaited by tens of thousands of customers …

Every British household will sink a further £228 each into Lloyds Banking Group as part of the lender’s record rights issue to raise £13.5 billion, The Times reports.
As part of the fundraising, the Government will today plough another £5.7 billion of taxpayers’ money into the bank that have already received £17 billion in state money, giving Britons a 43 per cent stake in the bank.
Today, Lloyds are demanding another £13.5 billion from their nearly three …

Rebuilding bridges and repairing roads damaged by the floods will cost Cumbria County Council between £50 million and £100 million; the Government have pledged £2 million so far to cope with the impact, The Times reports.
Insurance companies are expected to pay out a further £100 million to cover building repairs and damage to business and household contents.
Jill Stannard, chief executive of Cumbria council, said that at least six bridges would need to be completely rebuilt, …